


Erased

by Pandar_Bear



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Also spoilers of pretty much all of Steven Universe, Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergent after Everything's Fine, It's gonna be angsty at first, Multi, PSA: Steven is not fine, Spoilers of pretty much the entirety of Steven Universe Future, Steven's here to help, Steven's trying his best not to be angsty, Time Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:41:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23424931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pandar_Bear/pseuds/Pandar_Bear
Summary: (Do not read this summary if you do not want spoilers for Steven Universe Future)After Steven tried his best to help Little Homeworld, he only served to tear it down. He shattered Jasper. He wanted to shatter White Diamond and so many more. As he begins to realize that he's becoming a monster, he breaks. Only instead of becoming corrupted, he finds himself in a world where he never existed to start with. He's not entirely sure if this is a good or bad thing.
Relationships: Minor Connie/Steven (Steven Universe), Minor Ruby/Sapphire (Steven Universe) - Relationship, Rose Quartz/Greg Universe
Comments: 71
Kudos: 278





	1. Steven Is Fine

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first take at a Steven Universe fanfiction. I've seen a bunch of time travel/AU type stories going around recently and wanted to join the trend. Without further ado, hope you enjoy!

Steven groaned into his hands as he struggled to maintain his form. He was just _so_ scared. He could feel something deep within his very core struggling to be let free. His own gem was betraying him, and deep down, he knew why. He was still denying himself of something he was beginning to realize was true; he was a monster. He felt a small surge in power, but resisted it. He just needed to leave. He had to go somewhere quiet and collect his thoughts.

“You know what? I don’t have to deal with this!” He clenched his fists tightly as he struggled to keep control over his own unstable, twisted powers. He kept his gaze to the ground in an attempt to reign in his emotions, but soon found himself blocked off from the exit of the temple by Amethyst and Pearl.

“Hold up, dude.” Amethyst’s own gaze met his own as she held out her arms. She thought she could help him. He could see it in her eyes; it was the exact look he had given so many people before. He didn’t need her help. He was fine. He just needed some time.

“Steven,” Garnet suddenly spoke up behind him, “you have to stop running.” He threw a confused glance back at her. He wasn’t running… Was he?

“Please” Greg added with concern evident in his expression. Steven pushed his hands to his face as he began to lose himself to his gem again. They were wrong; all of them. He was fine. He tried to think more, but his own thoughts were cut off. He cried out in pain as he felt his face morph and swell.

“Steven! We should get you back to the hospital.” Steven took a moment to breathe before meeting Connie’s words.

“Hospital?!” Pearl and Amethyst rang out in worry. Steven clenched his fists tighter. “When were you in the hospital?!” Pearl followed up as her eyes widened in fear. He pushed against his face as if that would make it maintain its form. Why were they making this so difficult?!

“You didn’t tell them?!” He looked back to Connie. What right did she have to scold him for not telling family members about things. She didn’t even tell her own mother that he had proposed! She hurt him so much, and she never even told anyone! Now, he just wanted to hurt her, like she hurt- No… No! What was he thinking?! Steven groaned as he tried to understand where his vengeful emotions were coming from. He felt himself on the verge of tears, but he had to keep going. He couldn’t have them all so worried about him.

“It wasn’t that important, you guys!” He defended himself and tried to put them all at ease. “You’re making a big deal out of nothing!” He plastered on a fake smile. “Have I done some things wrong? Sure! I trashed the house today.” He began counting on his fingers. “I broke an anvil… What teenager hasn’t?” He added on with a painfully fake smile. He looked towards Pearl, Amethyst, and Connie. They all looked so angry now. Why did they look so angry? “Dad and I had a little disagreement, but that’s practically a right of passage!” He continued to defend himself while trying to appease the gems. He just had to go somewhere else, somewhere away from everyone.

“I mean, it would be weird if we didn’t, right?” He questioned himself while glancing back to take in their expressions. “And maybe I’ve had a not so nice thought or two about.. You know, slamming White Diamond’s head through a pillar, but it’s not like I actually went through with it!” He laughed at himself as he tried to calm down. What was he saying? Why was he telling them this? “I only actually shattered Jasper!”

“What?!” Amethyst yelled out as the rest of the room gasped. His mind struggled in catching up to what he had just said. All he really knew was the fear and disbelief he could see in their eyes.

“You-You’re joking, right?” Connie blurted out in disgust. Why did she look so grossed out by him? He… He knew shattering Jasper was wrong, but he didn’t mean to!

“Oh, don’t worry! I fixed that too!” He replied with a smile. “I can fix anything! I can just keep messing up and fixing things forever! You’ll never have to know or think about any of it…” He paused as he realized the weight of his own words.

“Steven!” Garnet called and reached her hand out in concern, which served to shock Steven out of his rant. What was going on? He had been so focused on burying all those things he did, those horrible things, that he had trapped himself in a loop of denial. How had he not realized how wrong he was sooner? He wheezed as he had to force himself to take in a breath.

“How messed up is that? That I’ve gotten away with this for so long? You have no idea how bad I am?” They couldn’t help him anymore. He was too far gone. He knew that he was beyond their gentle words and kind hugs. He was a monster, and it took him this long to realize it himself. “You think I’m so great! I’m so mature, and I always know what to do!” He took a shallow breath in and spread out his hands.

“But that’s not true! I haven’t learned a thing from my problems They’ve all just made me worse…” Steven finally understood what he was. “You think of me as some angel, but I’m not that kid any more!” He was finally able to stop denying what he was. He internally chuckled to himself, at least he wasn’t lying anymore.

“I’m a fraud.” He felt his breath run short and his knees give out. He just couldn’t pretend anymore. He had shattered Jasper! He tried to shatter White Diamond! Just moments ago, he wanted to hurt Connie. Even right now, he could feel strong impulses to hurt, or even shatter, everyone in the room. What was wrong with him?! “I’m a fraud.” He repeated as he drew in sharp, painful breaths.

He could feel his gem trying to take over. It was trying to make his physical body reflect what he truly was, a monster. He trembled as it felt like his skin was boiling, aching to expand and morph.

“No, no no!” He cried out. Was this corruption? He fought desperately for each breath as he tried to remain in control. Only all of the diamonds power together could fix corruption… If he was the corrupted one, how would anyone ever fix him? It was a fate he deserved, he could admit that much, but what if he destroyed everyone around him? He didn’t want to! He already caused them enough trouble with all the horrible things he’d already done. He didn’t want to hurt them anymore… “I’m a monster, but I don’t want to be…” His eyes began to tear profusely as he fought the pain that blosomed from his gem.

“Steven!” Garnet called out his name again, and suddenly, he felt her hand touch his shoulder.

“No, Garnet! Get away! All of you! I’m only going to- AAAGH!” He completely collapsed onto the ground as he clutched onto his gem. This wasn’t how this was supposed to happen. This was supposed to be everyone’s happy ending, and he was ruining it. “I should-” He choked as his lungs refused to draw in more air. “I shouldn’t exist.” He wheezed out.

His only reason for existence was to help. If he couldn’t help, if he could only harm, there was no reason to exist as he saw it. With one finale wheeze, his vision went black.

* * *

Steven let a small groan as he carefully sat up from his spot on the ground. His hands reached out and propped himself up on the rocky ground. As he slowly opened his eyes, small black specks covered his vision but soon began to vanish. As he finally regained his vision, he noticed the area around him. It was a large cave that looked out onto a very familiar beach.

“What?” He whined as he gradually stood up on shaky legs. “Where am I?” He looked behind him and deeper into the cave only to become more confused. In front of him, he could see the door the led to all the different rooms of the temple and the warp pad that previously existed within his home. He took another glance at the area around him, and realized it was where his house used to stand.

His body began to light up pink as he started to panic. “N-No. You have to calm down!” He cursed himself over his adverse reaction. He slowly drew in short breaths that seemed to come much easier than when everyone surrounded him. “Wait… Where is everyone?!” He quickly jumped from the hollow where his house previously stood and ran down the beach.

“Garnet?! Amethyst?!” He called out desperately as he tore across the sand. “Connie?! Dad?! P-Pearl?!” He had to get to beach city. He couldn’t help but feel an imposing sense of dread. What if he was the reason for their disappearance? What if he- “No, calm down.” He repeated to himself as he finally reached the town. He couldn’t afford to break down again. If… If he did something to everyone, he had to fix it. The first thing he noticed was the fence that now surrounded the beach. He remembered the gems said that they previously had one up, but it was taken down shortly after he was born...

He felt a light relief settle in his chest as he was met with an undestroyed Beach City. He looked out to where Little Homeworld should be, only to see the forest and fields that it had taken the place of. “Where is it?” He clenched his fists. He felt so lost. He looked back to the town and saw a few bystanders looking at him curiously. Why were there no gems in the town?

He sprinted into the Big Donut thinking he could ask whoever was working where everything was. “Hey!” He called out urgently as he ran in the door. “Does anyone know where-” He froze mid sentence as his eyes met with Sadie’s and Lar’s. “What are you guys doing here?” He questioned them as he drew in breaths.

“We work here?” Lars answered back looking at him with a mix of confusion and annoyance. Steven looked back at Lars with a raised brow. Why did Lars look so human? His pink hair was no where to be seen, and his skin was a normal peachy tint. He wasn't the pink-washed version that Steven had grown so close too.

“Are you okay, sir? You look troubled…” Sadie looked towards him with worry.

“I- Umm… Do you know my name?” Steven forced himself to ask while he held his trembling hands to his chest.

“I’m sorry, but should I?” Sadie looked genuinely disappointed, meanwhile Lars looked apprehensive.

“Oh- of course!” Steven had to force his hands tightly together to stop them from trembling. “Sorry, I c-came in here the other day. Thought I left more of an impression is all.” He put on a false smile as he faced them.

“I’m very sorry, sir. Is there something you needed?” Sadie looked to the ground in discomfort.

“No-Nope! I’m a-okay!” Steven struggled to keep on his false grin. “Sorry to waste your time… I’ll just be going now.” He turned around and marched out the door.

“That dude seemed like a total nut job.” Lars commented to Sadie once Steven had left.

Before Steven could even wrap his mind around what was happening, he just had to know: Did his dad remember him? Was he even okay?

At that thought, he made his way towards the car wash. He let out a sigh of relief as he noticed his dad was standing out front while washing down some truck. He opened his mouth to call his dad, but he had to stop himself the last second. What if his dad didn’t remember him either? Sadie and Lars didn’t. His entire house was gone, and so was Little Home Town. At this point, his dad not remembering him didn’t seem like a stretch.

As he neared, he steps grew cautious and slow. He took one final breath before finally speaking out. “Hey!” He called out in the friendliest voice he could muster. His dad looked around curiously before finally turning around and making eye contact with Steven.

“Hello, sir.” Greg called out in an equal friendly tone. Steven had to fight off a frown when he heard sir. “Do you need a car washed?” Greg moved away from the car he had been previously washing and made his way towards Steven.

“Uhh, nope…” He paused awkwardly unsure of how to respond. “I-I’m just touring!” He quickly covered the long pause as he rubbed his neck nervously. “I was just checking out the town… All of its residents, you know?”

“Oh, a tourist? Not sure what’s so interesting about a car wash and some old dude like myself, but it’s still nice to meet you. The name’s Greg.” ~~Dad~~ Greg held his hand out in greeting. Steven took it up in his own trying to remain calm.

“You can just call me Steven.” He looked deeply into Greg’s eyes praying one last hope that his name would spark recollection.

“Well, nice to meet you Steven!” Greg ended the hand shake with a painfully friendly smile. Another awkward pause filled the air as Steven struggled to think of a response.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to bother you, but… You’re the singer Mr. Universe, right?” Steven forced himself to forget any hope of jogging his father’s memory. He didn’t want to delude himself more than he already had been recently.

“Oh, geez. I haven’t heard anyone call me that in a while, but I am. Are you a fan?” Greg stuffed his hands in his pockets and blushed a little bashfully.

“I am.” Steven resigned with a sad voice. “I mean, yeah I am! It’s really nice to meet you! You’re my favorite singer. Came here mostly to meet you actually.” The lie rolled of his tongue with ease. Steven had to hold back his tears for what seemed like the hundredth time that day.

“Man, I still can’t believe when fans come out all the way out here to see me. That’s really cool though! If you’ll come back here around 6, I’ll be done with work. I’d love to chat with you some more then. We could even go catch dinner if you’d like!” Greg’s eyes lit up. He looked genuinely ecstatic to be talking to a _fan_. If nothing else, Steven was happy for bringing his dad that joy.

“Oh, wow. That sounds great! I’ll be back then, Mr. Universe. It was so nice to meet you!” Steven responded while hiding the bitterness and dejection that laced his tone. At that, Greg gave a little wave before making his way back to the car wash. Steven’s unnatural grin quickly changed into a frown as he began to walk in an undetermined direction. His only hope now was the gems, but even that wasn’t looking to good. Without his house which was previously tucked in the temple’s hands, he doubted they remembered him either.

Steven slowly made his way back to the beach. “What is going on?” He mumbled and kicked the sand as he walked. Less than an hour ago, he was on the verge of corruption with no way out. It seemed whatever was going on shocked him out of it, but that still didn’t exactly explain anything. A forlorn sigh escaped his lips while his feet trudged forward.

Once he had made it to back to the temple, the warp pad let off a bright light. Steven’s first instinct was to hide behind the nearest boulder and watch from a distance. If they cared enough to have a fence up, they may not take too kindly to him trotting down the beach. That was, if they didn’t remember him

After the effects of the warp pad wore off, Steven’s jaw dropped as he noticed the group of people left in its wake. “Mom?!” He whispered to himself in utter confusion. On the warp pad, Rose Quartz happily chatted back and forth with Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst. His whole body froze up as he tried to comprehend how she could exist. When Rose last existed, Lars and Sadie would have been toddlers, so he couldn’t merely be in the past. It was as if he just… didn’t exist.

“Is that even possible?” Steven asked himself quietly as he finally emerged from his stupor. He focused his concentration back onto the gems, only to notice they were suddenly gone. “Huh? Where’d they- AHH!” He yelled out in surprise when Pearl suddenly appeared in front of him.

“Do you need something, human? We have a fence up for a reason…” Pearl looked at Steven with an annoyed grimace.

“I… Uhh… Sorry?” Steven backed away from Pearl, but his retreat only resulted in backwards peddling into someone else. “Huh?! Sorry!” He quickly called out as he whipped around, only to pause completely a second later. Rose Quartz was looking back at him with stars in her eyes.

“Oh my! I’ve never met you before. Are you another tourist human or have you just moved here?” Her tone was terribly excited but it also carried a gentleness to it that put him at a strange ease.

“Wha-Oh, yes. I am… Both actually.” He finally noticed Garnet and Amethyst watching him in the back ground, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from his mother.

“Well, it’s so nice to meet you!” She pulled Steven into a gentle hug. He stood completely still for a moment as he processed what was happening. His heart raced erratically, and he hoped Rose couldn’t hear it. However, it didn’t take long for him to return the hug with new found joy. It felt like the hug lasted both an eternity and a mere second all at one. It must’ve lasted too long for Pearl’s liking as she cleared her throat loudly and added a scoff for emphasis.

“You really should not hug everyone you meet, Rose. What if he intended to harm us. What if he intended to harm you?” Pearl chastised the over friendly quartz. Rose finally released Steven from the hug.

“Oh Pearl, you really should lighten up some! He’s just a human. I doubt he could harm any of us, even if he wanted to. Anyway,” Rose turned her attention from Pearl back to Steven. “I’m Rose Quartz. Of course, you can just call me Rose. What would your name be?” Rose’s eyes scanned him with genuine curiosity. All Steven could manage was to stare back.

“Pfft, cat’s got your tongue?” Amethyst snickered as she turned into a cat for emphasis.

“Oh, oh sorry! I just kind of froze up, didn’t I?” Steven laughed awkwardly not wanting to make a bad first impression on his mother. “I’m Steven.” Steven’s expression pulled tight as he tried to meet Rose’s enthusiasm. He was finally able to pull his attention away from his mother and turned his gaze to the gems.

On the bad side, they didn’t recognize him. This was obviously bad. However, on the bright side, they didn’t recognize him. That meant they wouldn’t trap him and try to help him again, right? Steven didn’t know if he could go through that again. As his thoughts drifted back to the present, he noticed they were all staring at him intently.

“Uhh?” He responded intelligently. “Did I miss something?” His heart still seemed to beat much too fast for comfort as he conversed.

“I asked why you are on our beach.” Pearl stated as she lifted her chin high into the air.

“I just wanted to go on a walk?” Steven supplied.

“Can you not read? The sign said this is restricted area.” Pearl watched him with an unamused glare.

“No?” He responded without missing a beat. “Wait, sorry I meant I just didn’t see it,” he added on with a strained chuckle.

“Uh-huh.” Pearl seemed unphased.

“This one’s weird!” Amethyst snorted out a laugh.

“Well, I think he’s sweet!” Rose defended Steven with a slight huff. “They are right though. This beach is dangerous for creatures such as yourself. It’s probably safest that you stay off of it.” Rose’s grin turned into a sympathetic frown. Steven chanced one more look at the rest of the gems. Despite Pearl’s efforts, Garnet seemed to be giving Steven the most intense stare of them all. Steven felt his skin prickle as he broke the stare and looked to the ground.

“Oh, alright. I’ll just be going then.” He wasted no time in turning around and speed walking back to Beach City. He groaned in frustration upon reaching the unrestricted beach areas. His heart still hadn’t calmed, and his breaths were coming in small bursts. Trying to distract himself, he felt his pockets for his phone. Pleased with finding it, he pulled it out and checked the time. “3:14…” He mentioned to himself. That meant he had around 3 hours to kill until he could go see ~~his dad~~ Greg.

Thankfully his phone was able to connect to the internet in whatever odd alternate dimension he was in. If all of the things that happened weren’t so vivid, he would be convinced it was a dream at this point. However, he knew it was not which served to depress him more than he would admit.

The first search he did was for the date. He stared in disbelief at his phone’s screen. It read November 4, 2013. He felt his heart drop when he realized the implications of this date. He should be around… Rose shouldn’t exist; he should. He dropped to his knees and stared at his phone in disbelief.

After a long time of silence, he finally spoke up to himself. “This is what I wanted, right? It’s like I didn’t exist… Yeah, yeah this can work. This can be better, even…” Steven tried his best to assure himself, but he still felt a heavy weight on his chest. “This time, I can save everyone. I can fix things that I broke before.” A smile worked it’s way onto Steven’s face, but a single tear betrayed his demeanor as it rolled down his cheek.

“I just need to get close with the gems again, and dad… and mom too now, I guess… and Connie. Wait, gosh can I still be friends with Connie? I’m 16 and she’s 12… I can still be friends with her, just probably not anything more.” Steven ran his hands through his hair. “This is all so complicated…”

“But, maybe it’s a good complicated? I’m not sure yet..” He considered his situation out loud. “Maybe I can just go to sleep, and it will be a bad dream.” Steven knew that wasn’t true. He knew this felt way too real. His eyes fluttered as his body felt heavy. He hadn’t felt so tired before, but now, his entire body felt like lead. It made sense. He’d been on an adrenaline rush since he tried to help out Little Homeworld. He didn’t even feel like he deserved to rest, but his body needed it. Although, sand probably wasn’t the best bed.

Steven made his way onto the hill that stood over the temple, found the softest patch of grass, and laid down. He made sure to set the alarm on his phone to 5:45 so he wouldn’t miss his meeting with ~~Dad~~ Greg. Then, he closed his eyes and began to drift off. “I can work with this. It’ll probably work out best this way. Never thought I’d live in a Stevenless world…” He mumbled sleepily before succumbing to his tired body. At that moment, Steven knew that he was fine.


	2. Steven Is Still Fine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven is determined to do things his own way this time around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, the response to the first chapter was honestly a lot more than I was expecting. It may not seem like a lot to some, but I really do appreciate all the support I get! I may not always respond to your comments, but I guarantee that I read every single one. Thanks for all the support, and without further ado, please enjoy the chapter!

Steven opened his bleary eyes in reaction to a loud beeping going off beside his head. He was quick to turn off the annoying tone, but his mind took a moment to process why it was going off. “Why am I sleeping in the grass?” He mumbled as he slowly rose from his spot. He wiped the sleep from his eyes while trying to process his situation.

“Oh… Yeah.” Steven bit down on his lip in frustration when he had awoken fully and recalled what had happened. Granted, he did feel a little better after a nap, but there was still this awful emptiness that took root in his stomach like some spreading weed. He took out his phone and looked up the date a final time to confirm to himself that it was not all just a dream. Once he had, he began to dejectedly amble down the hill and in the direction of the car wash.

To be completely honest, Steven didn’t want to see Greg right now. He didn’t want to see anyone right now. However, he had to start building relations if he were to somehow befriend everyone. This wouldn’t be accomplished by skipping out on dinner with Greg. Despite Steven trying his absolute hardest at convincing himself of this, he still had to force every step forward like it was against his body’s own will.

After a walk that seemed far too long, Steven made it to the car wash. He turned his head from its crestfallen position downwards and looked up for any sign of Greg.

“- even Amethyst agreed with me on that!” Rose grinned from ear to ear as she recounted some story to Greg.

“Well of course Amethyst would!” Greg chuckled into his hand as he listened to Rose. He soon noticed Steven approaching and turned his focus to him. “Oh hey there, Steven! Rose, this is the kid I was telling you about,” Greg introduced Steven, unaware the two had already met.

“Oh, this is him? He was on the beach earlier. Hello again, Steven!” Rose smiled and waved at Steven warmly. Steven responded with a shy wave and a half-smile.

“Hey.” Steven looked between the two while keeping his distance. Rose picked up on his reluctance quickly and looked at Greg in confusion.

“Heh, kid’s probably just anxious to eat out with his star,” Greg explained. Rose seemed to brighten up again once she understood. “We can go ahead and leave if you’d like. I was just talking with the wife. Don’t worry she’s got some business to attend to, so she won’t be cramping our style.” Greg playfully crossed his arms as he spoke to Steven, although it was directed at Rose.

“Smooth as ever,” Rose replied seemingly amused from Greg’s antics. She gave him a light kiss on the cheek before walking away.

“See ya, Rose!” Greg smiled and waved. Despite Steven’s circumstances, he couldn’t help but feel the genuine smile that crept onto his face. He never thought he’d see his parents interact like this outside of recordings. Greg approached Steven after Rose had left and wore a confused look on his face.

“Are your parent’s not coming with us? They don’t have to. I just kinda assumed they would.” He asked with genuine curiosity. “If they were wanting some alone time on vacation, I can’t blame them too much.” He added on with a small chuckle.

“Uhh, no I came here by myself.” Steven shrugged awkwardly while trying to avoid Greg’s eyes. Greg gave a small grunt of consideration before replying.

“Oh sorry!” He verbally backpedaled. “I thought you were still a minor. You just look really young.” Greg’s smile strained as the air grew awkward. “Anyway, let’s get going!” He finished excitedly before leading Steven into town. The two walked for a minute in tense silence.

“I am a minor,” Steven spoke back up. Greg looked over his shoulder with sympathy adorning his features.

“Are you out on your own?” The question seemed ambiguous, but Steven knew what Greg meant by it. Steven tensed up with worry. What if Greg was going to try to force him to go back to a _family_ that literally didn’t exist in this timeline?

“Yeah, something like that…” Steven answered back as honestly as he could without sounding crazy.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.” Greg seemed satisfied with Steven’s answer. “Anway, what type of food do you like? I was figuring we could go to this pizza place called Fish Stew Pizza.” Steven felt relief flood his system at the change of topic.

“Pizza sounds great actually,” Steven answered back with a small grin. He wasn’t getting to eat out with his dad; he was eating out with… Greg. His mind still felt an amount of peace from the interactions, however. They chatted casually as they walked to Fish Stew Pizza. Steven could feel the tenseness in his body that had been there since he’d woke up at the temple begin to drain. _See?_ Steven thought to himself triumphantly, _I didn’t need their help. I’m just fine without them._

The pair rounded a corner as they finally reached the pizza place. Steven’s stomach let out a loud growl as Steven realized how hungry he was, and Steven blushed embarrassedly, sure that Greg heard it. Greg rolled his eyes in amusement. “You can tell your gut to be quiet. We’re practically here.”

They entered the building and Greg instructed Steven to grab a table while he ordered. “Oh before I go, what’s your preference?” Greg waited a moment more for Steven’s response.

“I’ll just take whatever- Ah, wait shoot…” Steven trailed off as he began rummaging through his pockets. “I left all my wallet in my bag.” He explained more to himself than Greg. Eventually, he looked back up and gave an awkward shrug. “Uhh, just order for yourself. I’ll be fine.” He answered back with an unsteady smile. Greg watched him with a scrutinizing gaze for a moment before responding.

“Look, kid, I don’t want you to just go hungry. I was already planning to cover you, anyway.” Greg’s expression morphed into concern.

“No, really. I don’t need any help,” Steven blurted out but was quick to add on, “By that I mean, I do appreciate the offer, but you can seriously just order for yourself. I’m plenty happy just talking to you, Mr. Universe.” Greg watched Steven uncertainly.

“Fine, why don’t you just pay me back later?” Greg tried to coax Steven into agreement.

“I.. Uhm…” Steven felt the tenseness from earlier return to him. “I won’t be able to do that. When I said I left all my wallet in my bag, I meant it more in the sense of I don’t have my bag at all anymore. Sorry, I really don’t want it to seem like I’m trying to leech off you. So just order for yourself. I’m fine.” He added a forced smile to his face to reassure Greg.

Greg opened his mouth to respond, his expression looking extremely conflicted, except his jaw quickly slammed shut. He gave a reluctant sigh before turning around and heading to the counter. Steven mentally groaned. Less than a day in, and he was already ruining his potential relationship with his dad, if Steven could even call him that anymore.

A moment later, Greg returned to the booth and settled down quietly. “So what was it like? When you still were touring and stuff.” Steven spoke up with determination to clear the near suffocating atmosphere. He already knew all about Greg’s band life, but he had to play the part of an interested fan.

Greg gave a reminiscent smile as he began speaking. “Well, my days of touring were over pretty quickly, but I enjoyed it while it lasted. If it wasn’t for the tours, I actually would have never met my wife.” His look filled with adoration when he mentioned Rose. “Honestly, I wasn’t super popular when I toured, or even for many years after. I always find it so weird now whenever someone recognizes me.” Greg bashfully leaned his head on his hand. “It’s also really nice though. It makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something, you know?” He finished seeming much more perked up than when he started.

“I’d imagine,” Steven agreed. The two casually chatted back and forth for a few minutes until the pizza arrived. As Kiki placed the pizza onto the table, Steven gave it a suspicious look. Greg had obviously ordered a size much too large for just himself.

“Oh... Whoops, I forgot how large their pizza came!” Greg covered with a nervous chuckle. “Well, I can’t eat all this by myself, so you might as well grab a piece,” he added. Steven reluctantly reached for a piece, not wanting any to go to waste.

“You’re a horrible liar,” Steven smirked playfully then looked to the ground. “But, thanks. I mean it.” He returned quieter the second time.

“It’s no problem,” Greg responded. He held his mouth shut as he simply looked at his pizza for a moment, lost in thought. “Hey, mind if I ask you something? You don’t have to answer. I’m just a nosey old man.” He finally spoke back up while his eyes rested on Steven.

“Shoot?” Steven was curious about what he had to ask, but he also felt worried that he’d done something wrong. Had he given himself away? He didn’t know how… Did Greg remember him?! Steven had to shoot that train of thought down quickly. It was best not to build false hope.

“Did you run away from home?” Greg spoke with the same, gentle tone that would be used for a scared child. “It’s just, you don’t seem to have anything but the clothes on your back… You’re still a young guy, and I just don’t see how a kid could get to this remote town alone without a bunch of parental help.” Greg kept his words as soft as he could.

“Huh?” Steven looked back at Greg a little shocked that he would ask that. “No, not in the actual sense of running away…” Steven slowly answered, but he could tell Greg expected more. “It’s impossible to explain, honestly.” He added on as he tried to come up with more words. “I guess it’s more like I just _can’t_ return.” Steven’s fist clenched unconsciously as he tried to maintain his calm demeanor.

“Hey, no need to stress. I actually get where you’re coming from. Believe it or not, I was a runaway too.” Steven had to feign surprise at Greg’s words. “So, I do get it. If you need any help while you’re here in Beach City, I mean any at all, don’t even think twice about coming to me.” Greg smiled understandingly at Steven. “You seem like a good kid, so… Yeah.” Albeit the awkward ending, Greg’s good intentions were clear.

“I really don’t need any help.” Steven denied it immediately. He clenched both his fists tight and had to fight to keep his form from glowing. When Greg frowned slightly, he was quick to amend his wording. “Again, I appreciate it, but I’m all good.”

“I’m sure,” Greg replied without any sarcasm or doubt in his tone. “I’m just saying that if you do, I’m here.” Steven nodded at him in understanding. After that, conversation halted for a brief minute, but it didn’t take long for it to pick back up on a lighter tone.

“So… Who were all those people with Rose when I first met her?” Greg considered Steven’s question for a moment. Of course, Steven already knew the answer, but it didn’t hurt to get some more information on this universe’s gems.

“It was probably Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst. Was one of them purple, one kind of intimidating, and the other… a little pompous?” He tried to pick good wording for Pearl’s description, but it was obvious he struggled. Steven nodded in confirmation. “They’re her friends.” Steven waited for him to elaborate, but he never did. Steven supposed it was up to him to dig deeper.

“Why was one of them purple? And they all had crystals on them, Rose too. What was up with that?” Steven took another bite of his pizza as he spoke in an attempt to not seem overly interested.

“Oh gosh, you’re gonna think I’m crazy for saying this…” Steven doubted that. Regardless, Greg’s cheeks blushed in embarrassment. “They’re aliens?” He answered back timidly. Steven tried to feign shock, but all he did was widen his eyes. “Okay either you definitely think I’m crazy now, or you accepted that way too easily.” Greg seemed to be getting more embarrassed by the second.

“I believe you,” Steven answered back trying to add some excitement to his tone. “I’ve just seen pretty crazy things in my life. So I guess it’s not that shocking?” Steven mentally facepalmed at his horrible attempts of deception.

“Huh, you took that pretty well. Anyway, like I said they’re aliens. I honestly don’t know a whole lot about their past-” _I do._ Steven added in his thoughts, but thought better of saying it out loud, “but what I do know is they protect us. There are these crazy monsters that’ll show up every now and then. Without fail, they take them down every time.” Steven already knew that. What he wanted to know was whether or not Homeworld had entered the picture yet.

“Are they the only ones? I’ve never met one myself, other than them.” Steven hated all the lies that were spilling out of his mouth. Sure, he knew he was a monster, but that didn’t make lying to his dad feel any better.

“As far as I know. Rose doesn’t tell me much about her past, but I’m sure it would've come up at some point if there were more living on Earth.” Greg scratched his head as he tried to recall. Steven sighed quietly in relief. On one hand, he could help make sure the right events happen to keep peace with Homeworld. On the other hand, he would probably have to start the whole chain of events.

It all started with the Lapis. He would have to get the mirror from them somehow, release her, and either heal her himself or get Rose too. It would probably be best if he got Rose to as he probably couldn’t explain to her how or why he’s on Earth. How would he even get Lapis? He doubted they would release her on their own. He didn’t know better when he first released her, but nobody expected her to be sentient. That meant they would all probably think the same thing, and Lapis would never be released. Steven held his hand to his head as he contemplated all of this. It was obvious that he somehow needed to procure the mirror, but the question was how was he going to get the mirror?

“You good there?” Greg shocked him out of his thoughts.

“Oh, yeah! Sorry, I got distracted.” Steven rubbed his neck bashfully.

“You seem to space out quite a bit.” Greg poked at him in a spirited way.

“Yeah.” Steven didn’t doubt that he did. He also talked to himself a lot. He made a mental note to himself to try and break those habits. The rest of the meal carried on peacefully. They both finished their food and walked outside. Steven prepared to say his goodbyes and leave, but Greg stopped him by speaking up first.

“I’m serious about what I said earlier. If you ever need me, I live in the biggest apartment complex in town, 3rd floor up, room 32.” Steven’s eyes got a little wider as Greg specified his address. Dad lived in a van, not some apartment… Was Steven the reason that he never got an apartment? Steven didn’t feel too great about that revelation.

“Thanks…” It was clear to both of them that it was a denial to his offer, but Steven wanted to still seem grateful, even if he was getting frustrated by it. Greg watched him a moment more as if he expected for Steven to ask something of him, but eventually gave up with a small sigh.

“I’ll be seeing you around.” Greg finally spoke out.

“You can bet on that. Oh, could I give you my number to stay in contact?” Steven asked full of nerves.

“Yeah! I’ll give you mine too.” The two swapped numbers and gave each other a final farewell. Greg then watched as Steven turned his back and walked off. Once he was out of sight, Greg also headed to his own home.

Steven felt his steps quicken as he searched for somewhere secluded. He eventually settled on the area below the docks. No one was in sight, and if someone did pass by, it was unlikely that they’d see him. “Even now!” Steven snapped from the day’s pressure and annoyances. “Even now, he doesn’t know me, but he _still_ wants to help! Why?! Apparently his life is better without me anyway since he has an apartment and all” His skin began to take on a pink hue, but Steven did not notice. He knew his logic was irrational, but he just felt so stressed.

“Ugh! Do I just seem that sad? That lonely? That broken?” Steven pouted. “I can handle this all myself,” Steven assured himself in a quieter voice than before. It was at this point that he noticed he was a vibrant pink. He paused and stared at his own skin. “... I need to calm down.” He took deep breaths. He shouldn’t have been so careless as to get worked up. He had to ignore how he felt and focus on what he needed to do.

“I need to find someplace to sleep. I need to get a job or some way to bring in an income. That way I can rent an apartment or something… Do they even rent apartments to 16-year-olds? I also don’t have any forms of ID. I’m pretty sure I need that to get a job.” Steven leveled with himself as he realized the impracticality of his plans. “What am I going to do?” Steven gripped his hair tightly in stress.

“Maybe I should just tell the gems… Then, it’ll be much easier to get things done. I mean what’s the worst that could happen? They don’t believe me, think I’m crazy, and never talk to me again? Pfft, I can handle that…” Steven remarked to himself sarcastically. He laid back in the sand and stared at the dock above him while he thought. “...Unless I can prove it?” Steven reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone. He frantically opened it and looked into his gallery, desperate for proof.

He felt his heart clench harshly as he began to scroll through all his pictures… Little Homeworld, the Temple, and selfies with Connie, Pearl, Amethyst, Garnet, Pearl, Dad. Everything was here. He had plenty of proof. The only question was did he have the courage to speak up?

What if they asked him what happened? He couldn’t tell them! This was his fresh start. These gems didn’t expect him to be some perfect, happy angel that would sing nonstop. They didn’t expect anything of him, and frankly, that was refreshing… and terrifying.

As much as he wanted to tell them, as much as he wanted Pearl to hug him and tell him it’s alright, as much as he wanted Garnet to pat his head affectionately, as much as he wanted Amethyst to crack some joke letting him know it’s okay, as much as he wanted Dad to just **know** who he was, he couldn’t. He’d be risking this fresh start that he was given. He couldn’t let them know.

But if he wasn’t going to let them know, how would he get any type of shelter over his head? How would he afford his next meal? Steven hugged his head into his knees. This was all just too much. He felt so overwhelmed. As much as it begrudged him to admit it, he may have to turn to Greg. Did Greg’s offer even extend to a place to sleep and regular meals? That had to be too much to ask for, right?

Steven groaned as he thought. He couldn’t ask Greg for that much help, at least not yet. Greg still hardly knew him, and Steven had been so incessant that he didn’t need it. For tonight, Steven decided he could just sleep on the cliff next to the temple, as he did for his nap earlier. Roughing it outside for a few days wouldn’t kill him. He’d already done it before when he got stuck on that island with Sadie and Lars. Yeah… Living outside wouldn’t be so bad. He’ll be fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not too sure how I feel about all this angst. It may be too much, but I don't write angsty, brooding characters enough to know. Please comment below and let me know if y'all are good with Steven staying angsty for a while or if you'd like to move on to him getting better. I can't guarantee to change any of my plans, but I'd still like to know y'alls input. 
> 
> Help: *Exist*  
> Steven: I'm just gonna pretend I don't see that  
> Also Steven: *Almost becomes corrupted because he won't accept help*  
> Steven: I'll fuckin do it again


	3. The Barn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven has a run in with Garnet after deciding where to live.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof, I rewrote this chapter three different times. Also, I know I said this last chapter, but thanks for all the response. I couldn't believe it when I saw we were already nearing 30 book marks and 100 kudos after only two chapters. Thanks so much for all the positive feed back in the comments! You guys are seriously great. Without further ado, please enjoy the chapter!

A lush field expanded beyond Steven’s view. Every inch of the field was covered in thick grass with pink flowers dotting the landscape. The buzzing, scurrying, and flying of various animals and bugs subtly mixed into the natural bouquet creating a vibrant pasture that was absolutely teeming with life. He began to walk through the field, a curious yet delighted expression on his face. He wasn’t sure why he was here or even what here was, but it was a welcomed mystery.

The field seemed to expand infinitely in all directions as Steven continued, but that did not deter his spirits. For some reason he could not explain, it seemed near impossible to feel lost despite him feeling no sense of direction. Soon, a rather picturesque picnic area came into his view. It was wholly stocked with delicious looking finger foods and the sweetest of desserts. What caught his eye, however, were the people sitting around it: Pearl, Amethyst, Garnet, Connie, Dad, Lapis, Peridot, and Bismuth. They too noticed him and all began yelling greetings and offering friendly waves.

He stood in his spot for a moment. Why did he feel the sudden urge to cry? It wasn’t in a bad way. On the contrary, this moment felt like pure joy. He watched them as a growing sense of hope began to blossom in his chest. He wanted to approach, but some odd sense of caution held him back. Connie noticed his sudden stop and stood up from her spot on the picnic blanket to retrieve him.

“What are you waiting for, silly? We’ve all been waiting for you.” Without a moment's hesitation, she clasped onto Steven’s hand, entwining her finger with his, and began to lead him to the group.

“What do you mean?” Steven allowed her to pull him nearer to the rest of them as he spoke. “What are you all doing here? What am I doing here?” Everything felt so surreal around him, but he couldn’t seem to dwell on this odd misplacement he felt no matter how hard he tried.

“Don’t you remember? You asked us all to come here today. You said you wanted to-”

Steven blearily rubbed his eyes as they blinked open. “It was a dream?” He sat up, still not fully awake, and looked around him. He was on the cliff side near the temple. The sun hung in a low position in the sky, hardly peeking over the horizon. He felt an odd mixture of loneliness and joy from the dream. He had seen all his family, the ones that actually recognized him. He didn’t even care that it was a false scenario his mind created; he only cared that, for the first time in a while, he felt belonging.

The realities of the world were quick to come back upon him, making the dream now seem bittersweet. He rose from his spot and stretched his back out. “Man who would’ve known sleeping on the ground would’ve made my back sore?” He huffed sarcastically and crossed his arms. “And I thought we were friends, Mr. Ground. Making my back all sore? That’s just dirty.” Steven kept a completely straight face while he joked to himself. Maybe today would be better. That’s all Steven could hope for at least, and that was why he was trying so hard to keep his spirit up. After all for the first time in a while, he felt somewhat like himself, and he wanted to hold onto that feeling.

For the first portion of his morning, Steven decided to walk around town. He hadn’t seen this version of Beach City in a while and needed to know its layout. He hoped he would find some shelter or shack to squat in during this small adventure, but by the end, he still hadn’t seen any place that was abandoned enough for him to stay at consistently without risk of being noticed. He felt deterred by this fact, but he refused to let himself get too down. He would just have to settle for an area outside of Beach City. That wasn’t too bad. He may have to walk a bit each day, but that was something he could handle. “I’ve just gotta stay positive,” he mumbled to himself while wandering aimlessly around the town.

Maybe he could pop by the temple? He was just feeling so homesick after his dream earlier. He didn’t even need to enter the temple itself. He would be satisfied looking out onto the familiar beach. He knew the gems didn’t exactly want him there, but that was mainly because they were worried he’d get attacked. If he did, he could handle his own against corrupted gems, provided the Crystal Gems weren’t near to see him, and if they were near, then they would defend him. He kept himself from adding on a probably to the end of that, but he did have his doubts about whether or not some of them would even try to defend him.

With his decision final, he made his way to the temple. Once he reached the fencing that blocked off the humans from getting into the beach, he noticed the sign that Pearl had referred to when she first met him. He knew if they caught him doing this he would undoubtedly get an earful… Was it weird some part of him desired this? That he kind of wanted Pearl to lecture him like she used to?

He quickly shook off that idea and easily climbed over the fence. He began walking down the beach and immediately felt comfort from walking the path that he knew so well. His steps seemed lighter the closer he got to the temple, and he felt like he was practically skipping by the time he reached it. His burst of joy settled down when he was met with a bare temple completely devoid of many features that he remembered being built into it. He already knew that his house wouldn’t be there. He felt stupid for getting so sad about it.

He let out a small sigh as he made his way to one of the large stone hands extending from the ground. If he sat behind it, the gems wouldn’t immediately notice him if they appeared, and he would also have something to lean against. Once he reached it, he plopped down and looked out onto the ocean.

“I miss them.” He whispered to himself. His mind was quick to remind him that this was the best reality for him, that the gems here didn’t know the bad things he had done. That didn’t stop him from feeling out of place, however.

He suddenly felt an emptiness in his hands where his ukulele ought to be. He wanted so bad to strum along with some tune, to let his feelings out through lyrics, but just like everyone else, his ukelele was gone. He leaned heavily against the stone hand behind him. “I can’t keep doing this. I can’t keep switching emotions on the drop of a hat.” No matter how much part of him wanted to brood and grovel, he had to move on. He couldn’t sulk forever.

Steven stood up in defiance. This was his new reality. He would have to learn how to be happy in it eventually, and he wanted to start now. Even if he didn't deserve happiness, he still wanted it. He felt horrible now, but that didn’t mean he would feel horrible forever. He just had to put some effort into it.

He figured the best course of action to pursue his own happiness was to start simple: Find shelter. If he could find a decent area to live in, he could start trying to piece together the rest of this world. Somewhere in town was already marked out. He had discovered the lack of vacancy this morning. There had to be options outside of town, but also nearby. He stood in thought for a moment until an idea struck him.

“The barn!” He realized with slight excitement. It was an empty area where he could continue to refine his powers without the worry of being watched. It already had working electricity along with furniture too. The furniture was old and dusty, but it was still a soft place to lay his head nonetheless. With a new goal in mind, he set off to begin a rather long walk to the barn.

* * *

Garnet felt odd about the human boy from the moment she first met him. She hadn’t predicted his arrival to the beach in any of her future visions. That alone wasn’t very odd, but it was when her future vision began to detect him that things got confusing. Suddenly, seemingly thousands of new possibilities began to appear to her. In some, the boy became more of a background character. In others, he appeared to the gems telling them wild confessions of him being some gem escaped from homeworld with a desire to join their team. This led her to believe the boy might be a gem, but she had to remind herself that these possibilities were simply that, a possibility. She had to refrain herself from confronting him directly about the matter because there wasn’t a single future she saw where that ended well.

In the occasional vision, a very large and dangerous corrupted showed up to the beach on some near date. She didn’t exactly see how it was connected to the boy, but she did know that it was not a possible future until he appeared. Everything surrounding him was just one large question mark to her. She had yet to confide this information in the other gems. She didn’t want to taint their view of him if it did turn out he was merely a human, and she also didn’t want to seem like a fool in front of Rose.

After hearing from Rose that Greg took the boy out to dinner, she decided a discreet questioning was in order. She didn’t want to let Greg know that she was suspicious of the boy, but she did have a few things that she needed answered.

She silently ascended the stairs leading up to Greg’s apartment. Today was a Sunday meaning that he wouldn’t have gone out to work, and if he wasn’t with Rose at the temple, then he was definitely at his apartment. She rasped his door with her gloved fist and waited for an answer.

”One second!” A muffled yell came from behind the door. “If that’s you, Jamie, you better not leave with my package again before I can reach the door! I’m here!” He continued to yell out, much to Garnet’s confusion. She elected to ignore his comments while waiting. After a minute, the door finally opened, and Greg appeared behind it.

“Oh, hey Garnet. Sorry, about all that yelling. I’m supposed to have a package delivered that keeps getting delayed because they don’t think I’m here,” he explained sheepishly. She responded with a nod of understanding despite not understanding the situation at all.

“Did you want to come in or?” He prompted as he held the door open wide enough for her to enter. She nodded again and walked into his apartment. She looked around the space noticing that it was quite messy. Greg took notice of her judgment and gave her another sheepish grin. “Would’ve cleaned if I knew you were coming over,” he explained.

“It’s no matter,” she assured him. “Rose told us that you went out to dinner with the same child that we met on the beach.” She looked back to him, and he nodded in agreement. “She said that you like him." She adjusted her sunglasses while she awaited Greg’s response.

“He seems like a good kid. I’m pretty sure that he’s a runaway.” Garnet lowered one of her brows in interest, but her reaction was hidden by the shades on her face. Greg continued his explanation. “He said he’s a minor but didn’t come here with his parents. He doesn’t seem to have any cash or really anything on him for that matter. I even asked him, and he didn’t deny being a runaway at all.” Greg shrugged as he began to clean some trash off the counters.

“He seemed odd when we met him,” she voiced her own thoughts to Greg.

“I disagree. He actually reminds me a lot of myself when I first ran off. Honestly, the only weird thing was how incessant he was that I didn’t help him. He didn’t want me to pay for his food or anything like that. Heck, anytime I said the word help the kid would physically cringe. My guess is he just came from a bad household.” Greg continued to clean as he spoke.

“He ate food...” Garnet responded with the main takeaway from Greg's explanation.

“Yeah, but only after I told him it would be wasted if he didn’t,” Garnet considered Greg’s words. If he had refused to eat, it would make him much more likely to be a gem like some of her visions suggested. Greg soon added more on with a slight laugh, “I honestly don’t know why he was trying so hard not to let me buy him food though. You should’ve heard his stomach. It sounded like a grizzly bear.” Garnet lowered her head in thought at Greg’s final statement. That practically confirmed that he was not a gem. Even if he had shapeshifted a digestive system, there was no reason for him to be hungry. As far as she knew, gem's stomachs did not growl, but she might have to find Amethyst later to confirm it. There was also the possibility that he manufactured the sound to gain Greg’s sympathy, but that seemed unlikely because of how he insisted to Greg that he didn’t need any help.

“Oh! Wait there was this one other odd thing,” Greg suddenly recalled. “He asked about you guys. I couldn’t really think of any way to explain magic space rock ladies other than the truth, so I just told him you were aliens. Kid hardly had any reaction.” Greg brought his hand to his chin in thought. “I even commented on it, and he just said something like he’d seen stranger stuff. I wasn’t exactly expecting him to act like Ronaldo about it, but he gave the smallest reaction I’ve ever seen out of a crazy sentence like that.” This observation only served to confuse Garnet more. Maybe he was a human that had met gems before? Could he be colluding with the Homeworld Gems for some reason? She didn’t like that possibility at all. She had to stop her thoughts once she noticed Greg was waiting for some type of response.

“Thank you for your time, Greg.” She held out her hand in a thumbs up as she offered him a brief grin. Greg’s chest puffed up in response.

“It’s not a problem. I’m glad to help you guys in whatever way possible. Can I just ask why you’re so interested in him?” Greg blushed slightly at the praise as he spoke.

“He just seems interesting,” was as detailed as Garnet was willing to be with her explanation. With her questions answered, she left the apartment and a mildly confused Greg. “Have a good day,” she spoke before closing the door behind her. On her way back to the temple, she began to try and think more about Steven. Her meeting with Greg produced more questions than answers, but at least it did enlighten her on a few things. Steven was most likely a human, and he seemed to be familiar with gems. The latter conclusion was speculation on her part, but he did tell Greg that he’d seen stranger things. At the very least, it was a possibility.

When she thought back on her original meeting with Steven, he showed no surprise to any of them except Rose. Amethyst had turned into a cat, and Steven frankly didn’t seem to care at all. They’d met humans that were nonchalant about what the gems were before, but almost no one did not react at all. Everything about the adolescent seemed odd to her.

As she grew closer to the temple, she reached the fence blocking it off from the humans in town. She prepared to jump over it but immediately became distracted when she saw the enigma himself, Steven. He was climbing over the fence with practiced ease. He cleared it in no time by grabbing hold of the top, lifting himself up, and pushing himself to the other side. For a human, he seemed to possess above-average strength along with decent coordination. As Steven landed on the same side of the fence as her, his eyes jolted to her position and grew wide.

“Uhh, hey?” He tried to appear as casual as possible, but Garnet could tell by his demeanor that he was uncomfortable.

“You were on our beach again," she stated nonaccusatory trying to prompt a response.

“Mmh,” he hummed for a moment trying to respond, “y-yeah?” Small dots of sweat built on his forehead as he responded. He seemed nervous about interacting with Garnet, but she could not figure out why.

“Rose told you that it was dangerous.” Steven’s lips pulled tight the more Garnet spoke. He nodded his head in agreement with her statement. Garnet waited silently for his elaboration.

“She did...” Steven grew silent in an attempt to avoid her unspoken question. “It uhh…” He began to speak but seemed to reconsider his words one more time. “It reminds me of home.” He spoke in such a small voice that Garnet struggled to hear it.

Now that was an interesting response to Garnet. She knew humans could become sentimental, but she failed to see how that specific part of the beach was more comforting than any other section of it, unless he was referring to the gem portions of it. "So it's comforting for you," Garnet observed. Steven’s body seemed to tense considerably more at her words.

Stevens' eyes darted to the side, a sign of lying in humans if she could remember properly, as he gave his answer. “Y-yeah, the seclusion of the beach there, it j-just reminds me of somewhere I used to live.” It seemed he wasn’t going to go more detailed than that, and Garnet didn’t need much more of an answer either. If she didn’t know whether he was telling the truth or not, future questions would be useless. She decided to stop the conversation there.

“It will be hard to keep you from coming over there at all times, so just heed my advice: Be careful,” she warned him then jumped over the fence. She watched him a moment more as he seemed all too happy to walk away. Eventually, she turned around herself and left for the temple. She had to let the others know about her visions and his strange behavior. It came at the risk of seeming paranoid, but if any of her theories about him were true, it could mean real trouble for the Crystal Gems. His odd behavior only made her more sure of this decision. Steven, whether he was a gem or human, signaled change coming to Beach City. She could only hope that it would not be a bad change.

* * *

Steven held his hand against his chest as he speed-walked away from Garnet. His heart beat erratically in his chest as he tried to think through his conversation with her. She was obviously suspicious of him. There was no doubt of that. What worried him the most were the implications of her suspicion. Did she see something about him in her future vision? He had considered telling the gems for a short time, so it was very realistic that she could have seen that as a possible reality. Did that mean she already knew he was a gem?

“Why am I such a bad liar?” He groaned as he continued down the road in the direction of the barn. He must’ve been so obvious when he was talking to her. He was a mess, stuttering on every word, not giving straight answers. No wonder she was already so suspicious of him. He clenched his fists tightly as he restrained his magic from overpowering him. He had to stay in control. He would never be able to reach the happy ending he wanted so bad if he let his magic get the best of him.

He took a few deep breaths as he continued walking. They served to calm his magic and heart down slightly, but his psyche still felt like a mess. He nervously ran his hands through his hair. “I need to view this with a calmer perspective,” he instructed himself. He tried to think back on the conversation again. Sure, he might have been very awkward and suspicious, but if she suspected him to be a real danger, surely she would have stopped him right there? He knew Garnet well, and she was always a very defensive person when it came to the things she cared about. If she saw him as an imminent threat, he felt confident that she would have asked more. He could even see her trying to attack him if she was truly worried. So maybe he was just being paranoid about all this.

After all, she only wanted to know why he was on their beach, which was a perfectly reasonable question. Yeah, he just needed to calm down. It was okay. She appeared to be slightly suspicious of him but nothing more. He could deal with slightly suspicious... Despite what he told himself, he still felt a sense of dread weighing him down.

While lost in his thoughts, he hadn’t even noticed that his powers had activated. Suddenly, he was merely a pink flash getting closer and closer to his destination every second. He looked down at his skin to see it was a vibrant pink. “Huh?... Ahh!” He yelled out in slight realization. He hoped no one saw him. He wasn’t sure when his powers had self-activated, but at least he was in a more secluded area now. At this point, he could see the barn in the not so far off distance.

“I REALLY need to get this power under wraps,” he grumbled to himself frantically. It seemed that this new ability of extreme speed was possibly linked to his feeling of anxiety, but was that even the power? When he was back in his own world, all his powers were amplified whenever he was in this pink state. He had accidentally grown a number of plant stevens, used extreme strength unintentionally, and also used this newfound speed without realizing it. Maybe this was less of a speed power and closer to a state of more efficient use of his gem’s abilities? That became the new theory in his mind.

Whenever he was glowing pink, all his other abilities seemed to enhance dramatically. “I need to figure out how to use this properly. If I don’t, I’ll most likely expose myself to the gems.” He looked down at his glowing skin. Much like the rest of his powers, it was tied to his emotions. Unlike most others, this one seemed to be related with a feeling of stress or anxiety. He tried to calm himself down through deep breaths for a moment, but it didn’t seem to have any actual effect. His skin was still as pink as ever. He let out a frustrated groan and continued towards the barn while wringing his hands together in an uneasy fashion.

He had to suppress the want to speed up as he walked. If he was going to master this power, he had to start by learning how to refrain from using it. Once he reached the barn, he looked down to his skin to find it was a lighter shade of pink. Uncoincidentally, he felt a little calmer than before, but his heartbeat was still a little fast for his liking. “Maybe just figuring out how to calm down will fix all this?” He pulled out his phone and googled the generic phrase: How to destress. He clicked on the first option that popped up and waited a moment for the page to load. Once it did, he began scanning through the list.

“Changing my environment, already did that,” he commented while looking at the field that now surrounded him. “Practice breathing exercises, sort of did that? Maybe I need to lookup an actual breathing exercise and not just rely on trying to breathe deeply…” Following that train of thought, he next googled ‘Good breathing exercises.’

He clicked the most promising option of the list. Following its instructions, he first closed his eyes. He then began to try taking roughly 6 deep breaths per minute and continued this pattern for close to ten minutes. After doing this all, he opened his eyes and looked back to his skin. It was still pink, but the color was hardly noticeable now. He also felt marginally calmer. His heart seemed to have returned to a normal pace, and he didn’t feel like he was on the verge of breaking down. That was definitely progress in his book.

He gave himself a few more minutes to calm down completely and then began to wander the barn. It had all the furniture he would need, but most of it was buried under random scrap metal and other junk. He forgot how cluttered this place was before the gems had repurposed all the metal into Pearl’s failed spaceship and the drill for the cluster. He started by moving all the furniture to the top story. He would allow the first story to be storage for all the materials that would be needed eventually, and the second story could be where he lived.

It took the rest of the day and into some of the night to get everything arranged how he wanted, and once he finished, he felt satisfaction in completing the first step of his plan. His stomach was growling at him in distress for not eating all day, but he elected to ignore it. He was too exhausted, both physically and mentally, to go out and try to fish or forage for something. He knew he could always get some food the next day, so he decided to curl up on the comfiest looking couch.

His mind’s constant jumping from one problem to another was deterring his ability to sleep, no matter how much he may have wanted to. He found himself just replaying the past two days events in his mind until he fell into an uneasy rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you guys enjoyed! I honestly wasn't super pleased with this chapter (the reason it got rewrote three times), but still, thank you all so much for reading this little hobby fic of mine!


	4. The Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gems discuss what to do about Steven.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are way too nice in all your feedback. Seriously, y'all are all so sweet! I love reading all the comments y'all leave. Anyway, you came here for the story not my ramblings about your comments, so without further ado, please enjoy!

“What do you mean he might be a GEM?!” Pearl stretched her arms out in emphasis as she shrieked in response to Garnet.

“In some futures, he came to us and admitted he was a gem from homeworld. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s true, but it’s a possibility.” Garnet shrugged as she leaned against the cave wall.

“Why didn’t you tell us this SOONER?! It’s quite an important piece of information!” Pearl began to pace back and forth in the temple’s entrance while holding her hands to her head.

“Chill, P. Garnet only said it was a possibility, and if he was a gem, what exactly is the worst that could happen?” Amethyst's eyes followed Pearl’s form as she walked back and forth.

“He could contact HOMEWORLD! They could find out we survived and come back to finish the job!” Pearl stomped lightly as she tried to explain the seriousness of the situation to the youngest gem.

“Oh… That is pretty bad.” Amethyst’s eyes turned wide as she began to stare into space.

“I KNOW!” Pearl sobbed as she held her hand to her face.

“What’re we gonna do?!” Amethyst ran her hand through her hair in worry as her eyes only seemed to grow larger by the second.

“I DON’T KNOW!” Pearl cried out again as she ran over to Rose. She gently grabbed onto Rose’s dress and looked up to her. “ROSE! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?” Rose looked down at her and ran a soothing hand over her head.

“Calm down, Pearl. You too Amethyst,” she spoke gently with a fond smile as she attempted to put the two worrying gems at ease. Rose turned her gaze back to Garnet, and her smile turned into a straight line as she became more serious. “Do you see any other Homeworld gems coming here as a result of him?” Garnet adjusted her glasses as she considered this.

“Not as far as I can see. I can’t guarantee this, though. I have only seen a few tens of possibilities out of what could potentially be thousands.” She stood up straight as Rose addressed her.

“Is there a reason you didn’t tell us sooner?” Both Rose’s expression and voice regained their delicate gentleness to let Garnet know that she wasn’t reprimanding her.

“There was a possibility that if I told you before finding out more information, you would decide to confront him. I have yet to see a possibility where confronting him was a good idea.” Garnet explained herself not wanting Rose to think anything bad of her.

  
“So what information did you gather?” Rose followed up as she released a now much calmer Pearl from her arms.

“He’s already very familiar with Earth concepts. He knew what eating was, and he ate with Greg during their meeting. He goes by an Earth name, and he has different pronouns then gems do. There are also all my future visions where he admits to being a gem. He told me that our area of the beach ‘reminded him of home,’ and he claimed to be some type of runaway.” Rose paused as she thought over Garnet’s evidence. Garnet took the opportunity to speak up a final time. “I think there’s too much evidence for him not to be a gem in all honesty. I’ve even seen him use his powers in some of my visions. I think that he knows too much about the Earth to be a spy from homeworld, though.”

“I’m not sure what to do. Have you seen any future where he attacks us?” Garnet shook her head in response to Rose. “Well, it doesn’t seem like he’s much of a threat then, regardless of whether he's a gem or not. If he’s not bringing Homeworld here, and he’s not attacking us, then I think it’s best to live and let live.” Rose turned out to the ocean and held her hand up to her chin as she thought. “I hate being so careless about something as big as this though.”

“Why don’t we just ask him about it? We can just tell him that we’re not looking for a fight.” Amethyst joined in the conversation.

“He doesn’t like confrontation if my visions are anything to go off of,” Garnet answered simply.

“Yeah, but what’s that even mean?” Amethyst attempted to get Garnet to explain her reasoning.

“It means that he panics and loses control of his form,” Garnet answered back directly.

“If he truly isn’t a threat, then it’s probably best for us to avoid making him an enemy by freaking him out like that,” Rose added onto the explanation for Amethyst.

“So are we just going to play along with him then?” Pearl finally spoke back up, directing her question to Rose more than anyone else. Her voice carried disbelief to it.

“I suppose we are… I believe that’s the best course of action for now. I don’t want to attack him or anything if he really did come to Earth looking for a life outside of the Diamond Authority.” Rose bit her lip, still looking a bit troubled about her decision. Garnet nodded in agreement with it.

“Who cares if Garnet doesn’t see a future in which he hurts us? That doesn’t mean he’s not a threat! We’re being too casual about this!” Pearl threw her hands out in frustration. She quickly realized that she had yelled at Rose and retracted her hands from the air. She looked down to the ground avoiding Rose’s eye contact. When she spoke back up, her voice was much quieter and non-offending. “I mean, I think that we should make the safety of ourselves and the Earth the priority. It may be worth making him uncomfortable if it guarantees our safety. Whether Garnet sees it or not, he is still a threat.”

“Pearl, look at me,” Rose’s voice was steady as she spoke, making it unclear if she was angry or not. Pearl slowly took her eyes off the ground and met Rose’s. Rose gently grabbed onto Pearl’s hand.

“I know you’re just worried about us all. That’s understandable; I am too. There’s just so little we know about him, but what we do know is that he has made no clear attempts to contact Homeworld or attack us. Think about it, the galaxy warp is still down, there have been no sightings of any large ships making it to Earth that we know of, and the communication hub is still inactive. If he’s trying to contact Homeworld, then he’s not doing a very good job at it.” Rose offered Pearl a gentle smile before she released Pearl’s hands back to her side. “I think that we should give him a chance.”

Pearl stood in silence for a moment as she thought. Eventually, she let out a quiet grumble. “I will comply with your wishes. However if he takes even one step out of line, I will confront him for the safety of us all,” she closed one of her hands into a fist and looked down at it. “I will keep you safe.” She made eye contact with Rose before looking back at the other Crystal Gems. “All of you.” Rose covered her mouth as a small giggle escaped her.

“And I’d expect nothing less of a renegade pearl” Pearl blushed slightly at the nickname.

“I’m going to start preparing for our mission,” she mumbled as she escaped into the temple.

“I suppose that it’s best we all do. We should be ready ahead of time,” Rose added on once Pearl was out of sight. Garnet nodded and returned to her own room, leaving Rose and Amethyst.

"Do you really think he's not something to worry about?" Amethyst inquired from Rose, which received a small nod. "Yeah," Amethyst agreed and added on, "he didn't seem bad when we met him." At that, Amethyst left for her room.

“Please don’t let me be wrong for showing you mercy, Steven…” Rose whispered to the beach and stood for a moment longer just watching the waves. Eventually, she broke herself from her reverie and went into the temple door.

* * *

“Gotcha!” Steven triumphantly held the impaled fish into the air. He cringed a little when it flopped, still seeming very much alive, and suddenly felt much less victorious about his catch. “I’m sorry buddy, but it’s either you or me.” He gave the fish a sympathetic pat before leaving the river’s side with his pike in hand. He shielded his eyes from the harsh sunlight as he emerged from the woods and continued on his way back to the barn. He lifted his eyes to the sky, still carefully shading them, and took note of the sun’s position.

It had already climbed much higher than Steven had anticipated. Both times he had been forced to fish like this, he had water sources readily available. Now, getting to the closest river felt like a journey in itself. “I need to figure out a more sustainable food source,” both Steven and his stomach grumbled in unison. Despite feeling annoyed by the long walk both to and from the river, he couldn’t help but feel a little upbeat.

Maybe a getaway just like this was what Steven needed? He knew he’d have to return to Beach City soon, but there was something about being in the great outdoors that served to calm Steven tremendously. It was the combination of alone time, fresh air, and great scenery that gave Steven no room to brood. He had to force himself from thinking about his situation, but otherwise, he felt better.

It took quite the walk before the barn drew close again. He found himself practically sprinting to the small pile of twigs that he had gathered earlier for cooking. He had already set up all the supplies needed to start a fire before he’d left to fish, and now, all he had to do was get it going.

After putting some old fashioned elbow grease into it, the fire became a bright, determined blaze. After cleaning the fish properly, he carefully picked up the pike which held the fish and stabbed the bottom of it into the ground near the fire. He had to adjust it a little before it was at an acceptable position above the fire, and once he did, he sat down with a feeling of accomplishment.

While waiting for the fish to cook thoroughly, he began to look over the expansive yet empty fields that surrounded his new home. It didn’t feel right with them being so empty. He thought back to the hard work that Peridot and Lapis had put into them. As a result, his mood began to quickly deteriorate. “I need to get those filled with something. It seems like everywhere I go there’s a constant reminder that I’m alone now…” He sighed softly as his eyes grazed the fields. His hands glowed a gentle pink now, and once he noticed, he began taking fuller, deeper breaths.

He wanted for the fields to be as lush and green as he once remembered them, no matter how impractical he knew his dream was. He had no working tractor or watering system. He might be able to manage a small plot by himself, but nothing more. “Where am I even going to get some type of crop? Seeds cost money, and money is currently an item that I am devoid of.” He took a glance back to his fish to ensure that it was not burning before returning to his thoughts.

There had to be someplace where he could find easily collectible seeds or wild fruits. His mind suddenly stalled as he felt an idea scratching at his brain. He held his hand to his chin in thought, and suddenly, the idea sprung to him. “The battlefield!” He pumped his fist into his open hand in realization. There were strawberries all over the place there. Sure, they may not be the most nutritious food, but it added a little more diversity to his food palette. They would also offer an aesthetic appeal to whichever field he grew them in. He even wondered if he’d have to tend to them at all based on how well they grew already.

The only issue he could see was reaching the battlefield. The only warp pad that he had access to was the one in the temple. He would have to wait until a time that he knew the gems would be away for a bit, which meant he would also have to monitor the gems to know when they would be away. “Maybe I shouldn’t,” he bit his lip in frustration. If he were to get caught, it would be obvious that he was the one who activated the warp pad.

How long would he even be able to hide the fact that he was part gem? If he continued to use his powers and gem technology, he would be caught at some point without a doubt. He wanted to tell them himself, he just didn't know when. He supposed he could decide that when they knew him better. Regardless, he couldn’t deny that he badly wanted to grow the strawberries in the fields now. He would just have to be very careful about it.

His thoughts became sidetracked when the aroma of cooking fish hit his nose. His stomach let out a loud protest in response to the smell that now invaded his senses. “Shh, you’ll get your share soon.” He gave his stomach a gentle pat before turning back to the fish. His fingers carefully clasped onto the base of the pike as he picked it up and made sure not to burn himself. He rotated the fish in the air for a full view of it a few times, eventually stopping when he decided it was finished.

He made quick work of his meal considering he hadn’t eaten in a full day. He still felt hungry, but it was now something that he could ignore. Besides, he could gorge himself if he ever got to the battlefield that was covered in strawberries. That was something to look forward to, right?

He laid around the barn for a while longer until he decided that he had to go to town. If he wanted access to the field, he would have to figure out a time he could go at some point. Before he left, he decided to look for something to carry the strawberries with. He wasn’t even sure if he’d take any opportunity presented today in fear of rushing into it, but he’d rather be safe than sorry.

It took a while to find a bag large and well built enough to carry what he wanted, but he was eventually able to pull one out of the mess of the barn. It was a dusty and old looking brown duffle bag. Ignoring the layers of dust on it, it was a nice bag. He hated that it might get sticky from the strawberries, but he supposed that he could always wash it.

Once he had gathered all he wanted, he began the long walk back to Beach City. If he could learn how to properly control his pink state, which was what he was calling his pink-colored panic attacks now, he might be able to reduce the time it took for him to get to and from places. However, he did not trust himself nearly enough to try and purposefully activate it. That could be left for training at the barn. For now, he would have to settle with a long commute.

Steven walked for what felt like a long time before he reached Beach City. He wasn’t sure of the exact timing because he was trying to conserve the little bit of his phone battery for more important things than checking the time, but it felt like a while. He decided that the first thing he would do while in town would be to check the temple. He wanted to figure out where this world’s version of the Crystal Gems spent most of their time. He assumed that they would be together the majority of it, but he couldn’t be sure of where they would be.

It took another short walk for him to reach the fence blocking off their beach. Once he did, his mind drifted back to his conversation with Garnet on the previous day, specifically the end of it. She had mentioned that she knew he’d be returning, so it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to tread lightly and inconspicuously until he knew if the gems were nearby. He took a glance at the other side of the fence to confirm that the gems were not there and then casually swung himself over the fencing.

He continued down the beach at a slow pace. He felt all of his senses go on high alert as he listened carefully for any sign that the gems might be nearby. As he got closer to the temple, he heard a small laugh coming from up ahead and decided to approach. He peeked around a boulder to spot Rose and Pearl sitting on the sand together looking down with focus.

“I do not see the point of this. Why are you so focused on the sand?” Pearl kept any annoyance that she might have felt out of her voice as she spoke. Both her and Rose were sitting on the very edge of the ocean and looking down at sand that was exposed in the low tide.

“Shh, Pearl!” Rose hushed Pearl excitedly. “You’ll see it soon! Just watch this little spot right here,” Rose pointed to an unremarkable spot in the sand as she spoke, “and you’ll see what I’m looking for!” Steven had to hide away whenever her eyes turned near him as she looked at Pearl. The happiness and enthusiasm in her eyes were still hard to miss, even from the small glances that he got. After letting Pearl sit in wonder for a moment more, Rose finally revealed her trick.

She tamped the ground with her fist, and a moment later, a small hole appeared where Rose had directed Pearl’s attention. “I don’t get it.” Pearl looked up to Rose in confusion. “It’s just a hole…” At Pearl’s words, Rose held up a signal to wait. Once Pearl had returned her attention to the small hole, Rose scooped her hand into the sand below it. She seemed to reach her hand quite far into the damp sand before pulling it back out leaving an impressive hole in its path. She dumped all the sand from her hand onto the beach and began to sort through it. A moment later, she pulled out a moderately sized clam.

“See! This little guy was just hiding under the sand!” She giggled slightly as she held the clam out to Pearl. Pearl studied the it with a curious expression before taking it up in her own hands.

“It’s just a clam, right? ” Pearl held the tip of the it in her hand as she dangled it above the sand.

“It is a clam! Isn’t it so interesting? Greg showed me the other day when he came over.” Rose explained as he prompted Pearl to hand it back, to which Pearl complied. Once Rose had it back in her hand, she placed it gently onto the sand near the edge of the water. “Now watch carefully! It moves pretty fast.” Pearl smiled fondly at Rose’s enthusiasm. She soon switched her vision back to the small clam as it began to move and dig into the sand.

“See its little body? Isn’t it so cute?” Rose grinned up at Rose with the exuberance of a child.

“Yes, quite cute.” Her gaze stayed fixed on Rose as she spoke and her cheeks lit up a very subtle blue. Steven had to hold back a sigh from his hiding spot. He knew that Pearl had a fixation on his mom, but it felt different to see it in person. He couldn’t help but feel for Pearl knowing how one sided the relationship was. A second later, the moment was broken when Garnet and Amethyst appeared from the temple.

“It’s time to go, you guys!” Amethyst yelled loudly from Garnet’s side. Rose was quick to make her way back to the temple, and Pearl trailed behind. Steven watched as the group seemed to chat for a minute then step onto the warp pad and disappear in a beam of light.

Considering that he didn’t know how long they would be gone or where they were even going, he thought better than to head to the battlefield now. Maybe he could use the time now to inspect the temple. He knew it wasn’t the smartest idea, but he was dying to know if the door would recognize his gem as Rose anymore. He gingerly made his way up to the temple, ready to run at any clue that the gems were returning.

Once he made it to the door, he looked back at the warp pad a final time before reaching out with his powers to open the door. Hardly a second later, the pink circle on it lit up, and the door to Rose’s room opened. He looked into it curiously. It didn’t look any different then he remembered. He supposed that he shouldn’t at all be surprised by that considering the nature of her room. At the very least, it felt nice that something recognized him, even if it wasn’t in the traditional way. He took one final peek into the room before allowing the door to close back.

No matter how far his curiosity may extend, he knew better than to enter the temple when he didn’t even know how long the gems would be gone. He gave a small sigh as he glanced back to the closed door. His focus shifted back to the warp pad while he began to move closer to it.  
He wasn’t a child anymore. He couldn’t obey some random whim to go to the battlefield without proper planning on his part, no matter how tempting the opportunity might be. He began to turn away from it in preparation to leave, however, he froze in his spot when it began to emit a bright light.

“Oh no,” he frantically whispered to himself as he looked for a place to hide. His feet moved up and down as he prepped to run to cover, but his eyes couldn’t seem to find anywhere to carry his anxious body. As soon as he had time to process it, the warp pad’s light died out, leaving Amethyst behind.

“Can’t believe I almost forgot the statue. That woulda been baaaaaa-” Her mouth hung open once she realized Steven was there. “Oh, it’s you.” Her eyes widened in interest as she regarded him. “Garnet really wasn’t kidding when she said you were gonna start showing up more often.” Amethyst regarded him curiously for a moment. After he failed to respond, she seemed to grow bored. “Alright, if you’re not gonna talk back, this won’t be a very good conversation.” Steven’s body finally loosened up a bit once he realized that Amethyst hadn’t gone on the defensive.

“Uhh, sorry?” He tilted his head in confusion. He wasn’t exactly sure what she was wanting out of the conversation, but he could try to play along if it meant she wasn’t going to get the others.

“Y’know, Pearl keeps telling me to be cautious of you, but you don’t seem all that threatening.” She smirked while stepping off the warp pad and making her way towards Steven.

“That’s good?” Steven remained glued to his spot as Amethyst neared. The only part of him that moved was his head tilting in confusion. His focus flickered to and from Amethyst as he struggled to make sure his skin didn't gain a pink hue.

“I dunno if that’s good or not, but my gut says that you’re not anything to worry about.” To emphasize her point, Amethyst stuck out her hand and flicked Steven on the forehead. She began to laugh when Steven’s eyes got impossibly large. “See?” She continued to laugh a little bit more before she wiped away nonexistent tears from her eyes. Steven couldn’t help when his tense demeanor gave away, and a small chuckle escaped his lips as well. As frightening as it was to be caught in the temple, Amethyst’s antics felt so familiar and comforting.

“Anyway, I’m kind of on a time-based mission, so I’ve gotta go get something real quick.” After becoming seemingly satisfied with Steven’s reaction, she walked over to the temple door and unlocked her room. “Seriously, you’re not a threat right now, so don’t become one.” Her voice turned more serious in a clear warning. She didn’t seem to be threatening him perse; her tone seemed much closer to concern. Steven nodded dumbly, unsure how else to react.

Once she finally entered her room, Steven was quick to book it out of the temple’s entrance. He continued running until he had reached the fencing. He collapsed onto his knees and let out a small huff once he knew that he was out of sight. He was completely unsure how to feel in that moment. Amethyst had obviously been trying to lighten the mood and was trying to be friendly with him. He felt clear joy from that, but his confusion began to overpower his happiness when he thought back to her warning. If Amethyst had been told he might be some threat, then it was almost undeniable that the gems were suspicious of him.

If they were already suspicious of him, maybe it was best to go ahead and tell them some variety of the truth? He couldn’t make them aware of the whole truth, but he could tell them select pieces of it. He could let them know he was a gem and that he’s been on Earth for a few years. He didn’t want to elaborate anything past that, so he would most likely have to come up with a cover. Maybe he could say that he was a Rose Quartz that had escaped his bubble and fled for Earth? The only issue he could see with that was that he doesn’t exactly look like a quartz soldier… Maybe he could get away with saying he was defective. He began to realize that he needed to give this plan some more thought.

“I should probably just head home for the day…” He stood up from his spot in the sand and brushed any remaining debris off his legs. He looked around for a final time to make sure no one was near and jumped the fence. Once he was on the other side, he began his long trek back to the barn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyy wouldya look at that? Steven went a chapter without completely breaking down! I think this deserves a celebration.


	5. Cookie Cats!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven gets to have Cookie Cats for the first time in years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I know it's been a while since my last chapter, but rest assured, I am continuing this series. Now that it's summer, I have much more free time on my hands for this. I will be trying to balance updates between this fic and my other main fic, so I probably won't be able to update more than once every two week from now on, if that. Hope y'all enjoy!

Steven had decided. He was going to tell the gems. He closed his eyes and clenched his fists tightly while a dribble of sweat ran down his face. "Hey, my name is Steven and I'm a gem human hybrid." He slowly opened his eyes back up only to scowl at his own appearance in the mirror. "Ugh! What am I thinking?" He pushed his hand through the mop of curls that rested on his head. "Okay, Steven. If you're going to tell them, you just need to think of every possible question, every possible answer to that question, every explanation should something be misunderstood, and just generally any and everything else that could happen." He wore an alarmingly false smile as he looked back into the mirror.

"Hey, my name is Steven, and I'm a human gem hybrid!" He waved to himself at the end of his introduction. "Why am I saying my name? They already know my name." Steven rubbed his hand down his face in a grimace. "Is this what going insane feels like? Heh, if I ever tell them that I'm from an alternate universe, or the future, or whatever it is, then they'd really think I was a loon." He dropped his smile and sat on the ground while still gazing into the full-length mirror. It was a mirror that he had found in the back of the barn. It was covered in dirt, grime, and dust, but he could still see the reflections in it decently. He took in his overall appearance for the first time since looking into it. His face was covered in various discolorations of dirt, and his clothes had the same seemingly random spots of brown. He had been in this strange world for nearly a week now. He'd spent most of his time observing the gems patterns and fixing up the barn. The lack of proper clothing and bathing was beginning to show. The worst of it was the bottom of his jeans. They had collected mud on them whenever he went fishing and were beginning to feel stiff and oily. "I'm gonna need to figure out some way to wash off. Maybe I can wash off in the stream if I avoid all the mud spots?" He voiced his thoughts while running his fingers down his jacket.

"Whatever, I'll figure that out later. I need to focus," he reminded himself. "Okay, if they ask what gem my mom was: Easy, rose quartz. Mom was able to pass as a rose quartz the entire time she was on Earth. It shouldn't be too hard for me to do the same." He lifted his shirt slightly to consider the gem in his abdomen.

"Next: How was she not corrupted when all that jazz happened?" His mind seemed to have no shortage in supplying questions, but it seemed to stall on the answer. He sighed in thought a moment more before speaking back up. "Could I just answer with I don't know? I can just say that she never told my dad much about her life before meeting him. That's not even a lie."

"Alrighty, let's keep this train going. Where is my dad and why am I not with him now?" Steven had to hope that the questions wouldn't get to that; it did seem to be a personal thing to ask. However, he still wanted to be able to answer. "I wanted to learn more about gems. I was hoping to meet others... That seems reasonable enough? It even leaves room for me to ask them a bunch of questions so I can piece together what the heck is up with this world." He stared into his reflection for a few minutes more as his mind tried to add more questions.

"How much do I know about gems?" Steven leaned back into his hands as he contemplated the last question. "I'm going to have to act really clueless about everything if I want to avoid other questions about how my 'mom' got to earth and stayed alive. So, I guess I should say I know next to nothing. I only know about my own powers and that there's a place called 'Homeworld' ruled by a bunch of emotionally constipated diamonds." His mouth shifted into a slight smirk at his own wording. "Okay, maybe I shouldn't say it exactly like that."

His mind began to wander after mentioning the diamonds. What should he even do about them this time? When he was younger, he had wanted to help them with all his heart, to redeem them. He had never really given thought to the other planets that they had colonized, but now, that was all he could think about. Were they worth trying to save? "... Nope. Nuh-uh. I cannot think about that right now. Next question!"

He stared into the mirror for a considerable amount of time before concluding that he had run short. "Ugh, maybe I should focus on a bath now." He wrinkled his nose at the smell of sweat that wafted off of him at all times. As he was standing to walk down to the creek, his stomach growled loudly. "Actually, I think food will come first." At that, he made his way to the river to catch a meal.

* * *

Steven took a generous bite of the roasted fish. He sat close to the fire as he ate and watched the sky. Dark clouds covered the entire expanse. It was clear that rain would be coming; Steven just wanted to know when. If he played his cards right, he could use the rain as a chance to shower and wash his clothes without the worry of getting them muddied again. He easily finished off the rest of his fish. While waiting for the rain, he decided to begin trying out his pink state. He needed to get a grasp on it at some point, and he had been procrastinating it so far.

Steven closed his eyes gently as he sat next to the flickering fire. What was he even supposed to do? Think pink? Well... He thought about the color pink for a few minutes, opened his eyes, and found that his skin was still the same color. "That was a stupid plan," he commented to no one in particular. He needed to think about this more. Whenever he went into that state, he was always worried, stressed, or angry about something. He didn't want to purposefully rile himself up, but there was no way he could learn how not to turn without first learning how to turn pink.

He sat in thought a moment more. What made him stressed? Maybe it was the thought that he'd never feel a sense of normalcy with any of the gems ever again? Maybe it was that he had done some pretty horrible stuff and was only willing to admit it during a breakdown? Maybe it was that he feared that he was turning into his mom? At that thought, his heart seemed to lurch. "Well, it seems as if I struck a chord..." Steven clenched his fists. He didn't want to explore that topic deeper, but he needed to get control of this power.

He really was turning into her, wasn't he? He had fully intended to hide _everything_ from _everyone_. When the truth finally came out, it might as well have been against his own accord. Then, to top it all off, he ran away. He actually ran away twice if he counted his three-day camping trip with Jasper. Rose basically did all those same things, didn't she? She did something bad, and then ran away, and then hid it from everyone she cared about. He did all the same things.

Steven felt his breath quicken and tears prick at his eyes. Like mother, like son, he guessed. He had been mad at her for so long. Little did he know, he was going to turn out just like her. "I'm such a hypocrite..."

Steven broke out of his trance when he noticed bright glowing in the corner of his eyes. He looked down at his skin to see it glowing a bright pink. "... Mission accomplished?" He had gotten his powers to flare up, but how was he supposed to stop them? His heart was racing, his breaths were shallow, and his eyes felt swollen. He didn't feel at all like trying to figure out his powers anymore. He felt more like crying.

"No, Steven. Just chill out," he reminded himself with a small sigh. He then looked up to the dark sky and forced himself to start breathing deeper. For the first few minutes, he struggled to reign back in his breathing. Once he got that under control, his heartbeat seemed to follow suit. His eyes still felt heavy, but he wasn't sure that he could do anything about that. After a while of sitting in silence, he looked back down to his skin. It was a much paler color of pink, almost a normal shade. It didn't even glow. He sighed at the confirmation of his abilities. "So, I guess it really is tied to me being stressed out. Trying to get a mastery of it is going to be painful."

Steven's eyes dropped to the ground in defeat. He already felt exhausted and the day had hardly even begun. He sat by the dwindling fire until the first raindrops began to land on him. The rain started light, but almost instantaneously multiplied into a downpour. He stood up to avoid getting in the now muddied dirt but remained in the rain. Eventually, he ended up forgoing his clothes so that they could wash completely. He didn't have to worry about being exposed since there were no other houses or people in sight. He spent the next thirty minutes just standing in the rain trying to get completely clean. It was hard without hair wash or soap, but he was able to accomplish it with enough time. He then used the last bit of the shower to scrub down his clothes. By the time he was finished cleaning everything, the rain had come to an end.

Although he wanted to go into town to observe the gems some more, he decided showing up in sopping wet clothes probably wasn't the best choice. So, he worked on getting a fire started up for the rest of the day. It took a considerable amount of time and a lot of frustration due to the waterlogged state of everything. He was able to manage it eventually, though.

He sat by that fire into the night until himself and his clothes felt completely dry. Even if it was a long, cold, and damp process, he did feel clean for the first time since he came to this world. His shirt became wrinkled from the whole process, but thankfully, his jacket and jeans came out looking decent. He could always zip up the front of his jacket anyway.

After what felt like a long day, Steven decided that his makeshift bed was calling to him. As old and dingy as the couch looked, it felt like heaven when he laid down on it. Although thoughts about being similiar to his mom plagued his mind, he was soon fast asleep.

* * *

Before Steven was willing to let the gems know about anything, he wanted to get closer to them. He knew it was childish, but he wanted the gems to be interested in _him_. He didn't want them interested in gem hybrid Steven. That meant he would have to start pursuing interactions with them. He might even be able to get more information from them if he was successful enough.

Once he had reached Beach City, he zipped up his jacket to hide his wrinkled shirt. It was a vain desire, but he wanted to appear presentable. He walked through the small yet busy town casually. For a moment, he could pretend that nothing had changed. If he ignored the fact that no gems roamed the streets, that he couldn't see Little Homeworld in the distance, that there was a fence blocking off the Temple, he could imagine everything was the way it used to be. Despite his wishes, the charade was over as soon as he reached the aforementioned fence. He took a quick look around to see that no one was in sight.

The fence may have been significantly taller than Steven, but it stood no chance against the half gem. Like every other time, he easily vaulted it then allowed himself to float back down to the sandy ground. As he approached the temple, he almost felt relief in the fact that no gems were out. He wasn't sure if he could approach any of them. His plan was to just sit on the beach, hope one of them shows up to run him off, and then start up a conversation. It was by no means a foolproof plan, but Steven didn't need anything brilliant to just talk to them. He had always been a social butterfly in his youth. He just needed to rekindle that skill.

Steven waited... and waited... and waited. A little over two hours had passed and nothing had happened, not that Steven minded it. On the contrary, he was quite grateful for some alone time to compose himself for any coming conversation. He sat there staring out at the rolling tides, and it was nice. It was relaxing.

"Oh, Steven? What are you doing out here?" A gentle-voice called out as it's owner drew closer. Steven looked back to see Rose walking towards him. As she got closer, Steven took notice of her appearance for the first time. Unlike the videos and pictures that he had seen of her, she no longer wore her layered flowing white dress. He wasn't sure if she ever did in this world. Now, she wore a single-layered dress that was in a similar design. It seemed like a simplified version of the one he remembered. It was a long white dress that had a slit starting on the side of her waist. Her gem was displayed in a pink-tinted star, much like the other one. "Hello, Steven?" Rose muffled a giggle at Steven's lack of a response.

"Huh? Sorry, I kinda zoned out. I was just admiring the beach," he mumbled and turned his gaze back to the waves. He didn't want to admit it, but he had a hard time looking her in the eyes. It was just so jarring to be talking to her.

"Mind if I join you?" Rose kept her distance, somewhat catching onto Steven's anxiety.

"Go ahead." Steven motioned to the sand next to himself. Rose's mouth twisted up into a smile as she took her spot beside him.

"You like this area of the beach, don't you?" Rose looked over to Steven with curiosity, and he nodded in response.

"It's secluded and has nice scenery," Steven responded simply.

"It reminds you of home?" Rose prompted Steven. Steven immediately blanched, remembering he had said those words to Garnet. An awkward silence filled the air before Steven finally mustered up a meager "mhm" in response.

"Sorry, I know it was a bit nosy of me to ask Garnet about you. You're just something curious, you know?" Rose took notice of Steven's earlier reluctance and felt a need to apologize.

"Nah, it's fine. Honestly, I should be apologizing. This area is supposed to be off-limits. Thanks for not making me leave," Steven mumbled back awkwardly.

"No, you're fine! Umm, just remember what I told you when we first met. This isn't the safest place." Rose chuckled as they both stumbled over responses but turned serious when she finished.

Steven felt obligated to act curious about the dangers of the beach. It would be weird if he wasn't, right? "Why's that?" He knew the answer of course. He just needed to keep up the charade until he was ready to tell the gems.

"There are dangerous beasts that lurk around here. They are mindless and powerful. If you happen to see one, you should run. Call for us if we're near." Rose's eyebrows pinched inwards in worry. Steven hummed back in acknowledgment. "So you said this place reminded you of home. Can I ask what part of it does?" She shifted to watch Steven as he pulled his knees into his chest.

"The beach," Steven piped up. "It's just like one I used to live on." His eyes lingered on the beach for some time before straying to the temple. The lack of his home between its hands reminded him of the current reality. Regardless of how similar this beach was to his own, it wasn't his home. It may never be again. That realization alone caused Steven to snap his gaze back to the beach in an attempt to ignore the longing and sadness that stung into him akin to a poisoned arrow.

"You used to live on the beach?" Rose pursed her lips in confusion. She had assumed that Steven thought the beach was familiar for entirely different reasons.

"Yeah, I lived on it with some friends, though they were closer to caretakers when I was young. My dad lived close by too. He would stop by and hang out pretty much every day." Despite his somber mood, a small smile sneaked its way onto Steven's face as he reminisced about his old life. Rose's eyes widened at him in some unspoken realization before returning to her normal soft expression.

"That sounds lovely." Suddenly, Steven noticed that Rose had closed the gap between them. She was only a hands width away from him now and was smiling down at him with compassion.

"It really was. They were all so amazing, and they always looked after me no matter what I did." Steven remained nondescript in his wording. His mind drifted to the weight of what he did, but he had to ignore it. This was a new chance for a better world. Steven just had to keep telling himself that, and he'd be out of his depressed moods in no time. He still couldn't help but wonder why everything hurt so bad even though this was all for the best.

"So why are you here then, Steven? Why aren't you with your family?" Steven bit his lip as he thought about it. He didn't know why. He assumed that he reached this world through some weird power of his that he had yet to discover, but he wasn't sure what. If he activated it once, did that mean he might be able to activate it again? Could he go home? Did he even want to go home? Steven pulled his knees tighter to himself at the sudden onslaught of new thoughts. His eyes drifted back to Rose when he realized that he had never answered her.

"Can't," Steven was ready to leave it at that, but something about the way Rose looked at him inspired him to continue. "Even if I could, they wouldn't... heh," Steven laughed humorlessly. "They wouldn't want me around anymore." He uncurled from his hunched position over his legs and used his arms as supports to lean back.

"I'm sure that's not true! If they cared for you as much as you say they did, surely you just need to go talk it over with them." Rose was quick to reassure Steven, but her kind words fell on deaf ears.

"Can't," Steven repeated his earlier statement while avoiding all eye contact with Rose. His heart lurched into action at the sudden turn of their conversation. He wasn't ready to give up any of his secrets yet, and the way this conversation was going... Well, Steven wouldn't be surprised if his secrets gave themselves away soon. His heart was racing, and his breathing hitched. He had to focus on not turning pink.

"... I'm sorry. I'm pushing you, aren't I?" Rose apologized for the second time that day. Steven wasn't too sure how to respond to that, so he settled for a nod. Honestly, part of him had always hoped that Rose would turn out to be a horribly mean person. At least he could say he wasn't exactly like her then. But now, she was so nice. She just wanted to help him. She was so much like him. He felt mixed emotions about their shared similarities. "Why Beach City of all places?" She changed the topic of the conversation only slightly, but Steven could tell that it wasn't a prying question this time.

Steven shrugged before vaguely repeating, "It reminds me of home." Rose seemed to take the hint that he wasn't planning on explaining any further.

"So," Rose attempted to keep up the conversation, "What's your favorite food?" From there, their conversation only got lighter and easier to endure.

"Have you ever had a cookie cat?" Steven questioned Rose then looked over to see her nod her head.

"Yes, Greg has given me those on occasion. They're very good!" Rose replied back with enthusiasm.

"Those things are awesome." He paused a second more then looked up to her with a starry expression. "Have you ever heard the theme song for them? The theme song is as good as the treat itself." She thought for a moment before shaking her head.

"Ohhhhhhhh!" Steven began the theme song with clear joy on his face. He felt a little silly performing the theme song now that he was so much older, but it was a happy silly. Rose seemed to jump a bit, not expecting the sudden burst into song. "He's a frozen treat with an all new taste! 'Cause he came to this planet from outer space!" Once Rose caught on, she hid her giggling behind her hand to keep from interrupting the song.  
"A refugee of an interstellar war  
But now he's at your local grocery store!  
Cookie cat  
He's a pet for your tummy  
Cookie cat  
He's super duper yummy  
Cookie cat  
He left his family behind  
Cookie caaaaaaat!... Now available at Gurgens off Route 109."

When Steven finished his little performance, Rose burst out into a hearty laugh. "Steven, that was amazing!" Steven blushed slightly at the praise.

"Heh, thanks. Too bad that they're- Wait, I wonder." Steven cut himself off as he thought about the Cookie Cats. Was there a chance that they were still being sold in this world? "It's of vital importance that we go check the Big Donut." Steven stood up and waited for Rose to follow suit.

"Why's that?" She asked curiously while standing with him. As soon as she was up, Steven bolted in the direction of the Big Donut.

"Not much time to explain! I need to know!" Steven expressed his urgency. Rose easily caught back up with him and kept pace. Her laughing only seemed to increase more at his sudden antics. Once the two reach the fence, Steven had to climb over it instead of jumping like he usually would. Rose did jump over it. Once the two were on the other side, Steven picked back up his pace. A moment later, the two were bursting into the door of the big donut.

"Can we help- Oh... It's you again." Lars remarked from behind the cash register. Steven ignored him for a moment in favor of running to the Cookie Cat freezer and looking inside.

"There are still some here!" Steven looked back to Rose with a huge smile once he saw all the frozen treats in it. He then ran over to the counter that Lars stood behind. "Are the Cookie Cats still being made, or are these the last few?"

"Those are the last few. Apparently, they're not being made anymore." Steven deflated at Lars's words but looked back to the Cookie Cat freezer with hope.

"Is there any chance that you guys would be willing to give them away?" Steven walked back over to the freezer and looked at it longingly.

"Uhhhmmm? No? This is a store, not a charity. If you can't buy anything, just leave." Lars rolled his eyes with his blunt response. Steven looked back to Rose with an awkward expression and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Sorry for making you run all the way here. These sold out where I'm from. I was wondering if this place had any, but looks like it doesn't matter anyway." Rose squinted her eyes in thought as Steven spoke. She remained quiet for a few seconds before her eyes opened back up wide.

"Actually!" She interjected and reached into her gem. Within the second, she was pulling out bills. "I'd like to buy all the Cookie Cats you have!" She turned to Lars with a large smile then looked over to Steven and winked.

"Wait, Rose! You don't have to spend your money on buying me a bunch of these things! I feel uncomfortable using your money," Steven stated seriously.

"Well, I'm going to buy them for myself, but I think it'd be hard to eat them all before they melt. Soooooo," Rose drew out the word with a mischievous glint in her eye, "you may have to help me." Steven looked at her quizically.

"If I'm helping you, I guess it's okay." He regarded Rose with suspicion. Lars raised a single brow at the twos' interactions but said nothing. He rang up the total, and Rose gave many more bills than were necessary. After the Rose and Lars sorted out the change, he waved his hand back to the freezer.

"Go ahead and take that bulky thing if you want. It'll save me the trouble of throwing it in the dumpster out back." Rose gave Steven a thumbs up as he picked up the freezer full of snacks off the counter. Both walked out of the convenient store and back toward the beach with wide smiles. Once they were back to their previous position by the water's edge, Steven set down the freezer and sat by it. He waited for Rose to pull out the first bag before he was willing to grab his own. Once he bit into it, he felt unadulterated bliss take him over.

"I haven't had one of these in forever! Not the real ones, anyway. " Steven practically moaned out with his mouth full of the treat. When he thought about it, he hadn't had anything but fish for the past week or so. The Cookie Cats were a welcome change from his usual eating routine. Rose seemed amused by Steven's reactions.

"I'm glad I had you were here to help me then. It would've been a shame for these to go to waste." Steven nodded in agreement with Rose as he finished off the treat. He went to grab another but hesitated when he remembered he had not bought them. "Go ahead!" Rose encouraged as she nibbled on her first one. At Rose's permission, Steven grabbed another and bit into it.

"How did the song go again?" Rose asked Steven while taking the last bite of her own treat. Unlike Steven, she did not move to get a second. Steven then spent the next few minutes teaching Rose the Cookie Cat song. She was a quick learner. Before long, she had convinced Steven into singing it with her.

"Ohhhhhh!  
He's a frozen treat with an all new taste!  
'Cause he came to this planet from outer space!  
A refugee of an interstellar war  
But now he's at your local grocery store!  
Cookie cat  
He's a pet for your tummy  
Cookie cat  
He's super duper yummy  
Cookie cat  
He left his family behind  
Cookie caaaaaaaaaaat!"

The two sang it in synchronization. Steven split off at the end to add on, "now available at Gurgens off Route 109," which served to amuse Rose even more.

"That was so fun!" Rose clapped happily as she laughed.

"It was, wasn't it?" Steven finished off what had to have been his fourth Cookie Cat. "Ugh, I don't think I can eat anymore. What are you going to do with the rest of them?" Steven looked into the freezer to see that three remained. Rose considered the freezer and treats.

"Well, I'm supposed to be heading over to Greg's soon. I suppose I can take them with me and get him to store them." Steven had to hold back a frown when he realized the conversation was coming to an end.

"Oh, sounds like a plan. I'll be seeing you around?" He gave Rose a hopeful look.

"Of course! I'll need someone to eat the rest of these," Rose spoke like it was obvious.

"Rose, you bought these, not me. I've already eaten way more than I should have." Steven fixed Rose with a slight grimace focused not on her but on his own actions. "They're yours, not mine." Rose simply shrugged at him while maintaining her smile. As the two split paths, Steven gave a small wave, and Rose waved back in farewell.

"I'll be seeing you around, Steven!" Rose once again confirmed Steven's earlier question as she toted the small freezer with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally got to write some fluff for this series, and it makes me quite happy. Steven and Rose bonding is a weak spot for me.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading this! Feel free to leave any constructive criticism and if you do notice any simple spelling mistakes or otherwise, please feel free to let me know. I didn't have anyone to proof read this except myself, so it's very possible some mistakes made it through the cracks.


End file.
